Gergoth
Gergoth is a boss in the Castlevania series. It is a once-gentle beast, warped by magic and driven mad by imprisonment. Description Gergoth resembles a gray bipedal dinosaur with much of its flesh rotting off. It has no arms, no tail, empty eye-sockets, and visible ribs. When it opens its mouth, the gray skin on its head is peeled off, revealing tender pink flesh underneath. Its feet are protected by elaborated shackles which can be destroyed if attacked enough. It attacks by biting, jumping onto the player, expelling poisonous, cursing, or petrifying fumes from its exposed torso, and by firing a large and powerful laser beam from its mouth. Appearances ''Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow Gergoth awaits at the top of the Condemned Tower. It paces back and forth and attacks either by opening its rib cage and expelling a cloud with Poison, Stone, or Curse properties, or by biting forward, which pulls the player toward it while building up. After its initial attack, it will most likely follow with a high jump, attempting to crush the player. The fumes it expels can be pushed away by hitting them (a weapon with a wide arcing pattern, like a great sword, can be used for this effect). After it has sustained enough damage, it will let out a loud shriek and perform another high jump, this time powerful enough that it actually breaks through all of the floors in the tower. The player can use this opportunity to score a few free hits whilst both of them are falling. Gergoth has yet another attack, a very powerful laser beam it shoots from its mouth. This attack covers almost the entire room, so the best strategy is to get near and crouch just before the creature. This safe spot also provides an opportunity to attack it repeatedly on its legs. After enough damage has been dealt, its shackles will break, which signals getting near to the end of the battle. Once its health has been depleted, Soma must draw the Magic Seal 3 in order to send the creature back to its world. Gergoth's soul is required in order to forge one of the the two-handed sword upgrades, which leads to the powerful Claimh Solais. ''Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Gergoth appears as the second optional boss in the Nest of Evil. This time, however, it can be defeated with little to no effort just by casting a couple of 1,000 Blades. If the player talks to Wind after it has been defeated, he will offer a new quest: "Kill Gergoth". To complete this quest, the player must engage Gergoth in battle a second time, but this time Charlotte must deal the finishing blow by using the Blank Book. This changes the whole panorama, as the Blank Book has extremely low reach and deals minimal damage. However, Gergoth can be weakened by casting 1,000 Blades once, then let Jonathan attack it a few times, and then let Charlotte finish the monster. STR boosting assets, like the Wedding Dress, Open Veil, Combat Boots, Assassin's Cape, and a fully charged STR Boost, will help her in dealing more damage. An alternate method involves placing Jonathan at one end of the room and Charlotte at the other, causing Gergoth to repeatedly turn. While it is turning, position Charlotte close to Gergoth and fully cast Berserker to deal massive damage with each attack. ''Castlevania: Harmony of Despair Gergoth appears in ''Harmony of Despair as the boss of the first chapter. It is located at the top room of the level, sleeping for 30 seconds and then waking up. It shoots beams from that point on until it is confronted by a player. It has an additional attack in this game: a slide/belly flop attack. It is recommended to take the lower route and beat all the enemies while going up the stairs that lead to Gergoth's room; otherwise, the player will have to deal with all of them after it uses its belly flop attack. its poisonous gas attack was changed into its entrails being rapidly shot out. The default boss theme used for Gergoth is "Into the Dark Night". Strategy Being the first boss, Gergoth should not prove to be too difficult, although its tendency to use its massive size to corner the player can be annoying. Unlike in Dawn of Sorrow ''or ''Portrait of Ruin, however, there is much more room to maneuver and one can get behind it easily with a double jump and downward kicks, ensuring evasion and scoring some hits on its back (although it will turn to face the player soon). Gergoth has a weakness on its legs, although one must break the shackles on them that take half the damage its body would take otherwise, but its unprotected legs take twice the normal damage and, since they player is likely to crouch to avoid some of its attacks, it makes an ideal place to hit. Characters like Shanoa and Charlotte, or Jonathan, that can hit multiple times (depending on their Hunter Skills) can be ideal to quickly destroy the shackles. Doing so is not mandatory, though, and one can simply hit the main body, since it is large enough for attacks to hit easily. Gergoth's attacks tend to be slow and predictable, but its preference to trap the player with its massive body can end in damage if one attacks recklessly. One should always stay at a moderate distance in order to hit it and retreat, so the battle won't drag out for longer than required. In Hard Mode, Gergoth does not change much, except that its attacks are much more damaging. However, the player is likely to have better equipment and potions to compensate for this. The battle should just be taken with just a bit more of patience than in Normal Mode. Overall, Gergoth is mostly a battle of patience and securing the chances to attack as quickly as possible. The beast will fall in a matter of time. Item Data Gallery Gergoth DS 01.png|'Gergoth' from Dawn of Sorrow Gergoth DS Beta.png|'Gergoth' from Dawn of Sorrow (screenshot from the beta version) Gergoth HD 01.jpg|'Gergoth' from Harmony of Despair HD 1koma 08.jpg|'Gergoth' in the official Koma comic strips Trivia *The English localizations of Portrait of Ruin and Harmony of Despair describe Gergoth as being a once gentle beast who grew deformed and was driven mad by imprisonment, whose reasons are yet unknown. However, in the Japanese versions, it is said it was once a criminal imprisoned in ancient times, who grew deformed and twisted by cursing all of creation. *The graphical data for Gergoth refers to him as "f_fafni_0#.dat". "fafni" is a shorthand term for Fafnir, the dragon slain by Sigurd in Norse mythology. *The facial features of the Executioner, a boss in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate, bear some resemblance to those of Gergoth. Furthermore, their backstories, both being once gentle giants, are similar. de:Gergoth es:Gergoth Category:Original Castlevania lore Category:Dawn of Sorrow Bosses Category:Harmony of Despair Bosses Category:Portrait of Ruin Bosses